Why must they SPIN THIS as a POSITIVE?! I'm so SICK of the MILITARISTIC, WAR-PROMOTING PAPERS that CAUSED THIS TO HAPPEN!!!!!
"Waves of joy; The Wounded Warrior Program offers adaptive sports to boost veterans' morale and aid their rehabilitation" by Ryan Kost, Globe Correspondent | August 24, 2008
Four years ago this summer, a mortar blast paralyzed Mark Mix, 37, from the waist down while he was serving in Baghdad. But Friday, he and four other veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars let their disabilities and injuries slip away as they rode the ocean's white crests.
When Mix returned from Iraq in 2004, he was broken physically. His mind could have followed, were it not, in part, for the Wounded Warrior Project and the programs it offers, he said. "If it wasn't for them, I'd be sitting at home depressed and just withering away."
The Wounded Warrior Project offers adaptive sports to veterans nationwide through a partnership with Disabled Sports USA, a nonprofit based in Maryland. The program started in 2003 as a way to supplement rehabilitation, said Kyleen Davis of Disabled Sports, and has grown since. "A lot of this population was very active before they were injured," said Davis, who came along on the trip.
Sent there on LIES YOU TOLD and ECHOED, MSM!!!
Friday's surfing was part of a three-day program, which included water skiing and golf, that wrapped up yesterday, The program hosts the veterans and pays all expenses, including airfare, Davis said.
Hampton surfers stepped up to make the Friday event possible, said Michael Taylor, a surfer who helped organize it. Nearby surf shops donated equipment and suits. Two certified lifeguards and more than a dozen instructors donated their time. Others came out to help however they could, serving food or keeping watch in the water.
Nicolette Maroulis, a 30-something veteran who was injured in an explosion in 2003 and spent three years in a wheelchair before she learned to walk again through rehabilitation, looks strong now. But her mother, Laura Leigon, said her daughter is still in pain.
"I think a lot of people don't understand that however much you've healed from your injury, you always look back at what you could do before," Maroulis said as waves rolled in over her feet.
All for a crock of fucking lies!
With surfing, she said, she does not need to compare then against now. On Friday, there was no then. It was her first time out on the surf, and, she said, "I am so much more than an injured soldier."
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